“Your body is so tired that it almost stops caring about being hungry, thirsty, or wanting to win. When the mountain breaks you down, you get to see a real reflection of who you are and are left with the choice to give up or to push to new boundaries.”

Did you catch the URP Daily News Briefing podcast yesterday? I went a bit deeper into Vol State and tieing at races, science’s obsession with Honnold’s amygdala, and I post a question about race deferrals. Here’s the show. Thanks for the support everyone.

Max King’s Trail Running Camp really does look awesome. Focusing on things like stewardship and route finding along with actual trail running for youth is helping ferry this sport into the next generation. (NFI)

I host and manage ultrarunnerpodcast.com, a site devoted to the Mountain/Ultra/Trail running world. We interview a wide range of athletes, conduct honest and extensive product reviews, and report on the daily happenings of the MUT scene.

16 Responses to "Ultramarathon Daily News | Wed, July 18"

in BC, check out the grouse grind (i think it’s open this time of year). baden-powell too. see ellie g’s strava for route(s). deep cove has some pretty cool stuff and of course the sea wall around stanley park (and run in the park itself too while you’re at it).

islands? vancouver island? i’ve only run around nanaimo and tofino and there weren’t a whole lot of options nearby… as for shorter loops, sea wall itself is basically 10k exactly. but you can cut back through the park partway to make it closer to 7-8k. heading up capilano river towards cleveland dam is a good loop too with beautiful trails and some decent climbing: https://www.strava.com/activities/268801278

Hm, Matt, why do you think time barriers prove which runner is best, when a given runner’s actual elapsed time is what we use to compare them to other runners? If we are arbitrarily speaking about the 2:15 “time barrier” in a marathon, and Meb and Mike run 2:16 and 2:18 respectively, we don’t need that time barrier to prove which runner was faster, or “best,” at the given distance of 26.2 miles. I like arbitrary time barriers as much as the next guy, but they are not necessary in comparing runners with each other.

Most people use time (over a given distance) to compare themselves to other runners, it is all relative and arbitrary—because it really doesn’t matter.
It is the king of the mountain mentality, “I am the best at (fill in the blank distance) because I ran the fastest.”
Eventually, all records (CRs, PRs, segments, distance, etc..) fall to someone else (in time.) Many people involved in running are only concerned with breaking records (most likely to secure money from sponsors.)

Time barriers aren’t arbitrary–at least in that people invest immense worth in them. Are time marks on trails extensions of those in the road marathon scene, which is clouded by BQs and pace calculators? I run pace groups for half and full marathons, and despite doing my best to remind folks that a given race is just one run on just one day, their grip on the time is tighter than my grip on the stick I’m holding while we run. The proportion of those starting/joining a group that beat the time is staggering and, sadly, ineffective at convincing them that running never syncs up to their metronome.

in BC, check out the grouse grind (i think it’s open this time of year). baden-powell too. see ellie g’s strava for route(s). deep cove has some pretty cool stuff and of course the sea wall around stanley park (and run in the park itself too while you’re at it).

islands? vancouver island? i’ve only run around nanaimo and tofino and there weren’t a whole lot of options nearby… as for shorter loops, sea wall itself is basically 10k exactly. but you can cut back through the park partway to make it closer to 7-8k. heading up capilano river towards cleveland dam is a good loop too with beautiful trails and some decent climbing: https://www.strava.com/activities/268801278

Hm, Matt, why do you think time barriers prove which runner is best, when a given runner’s actual elapsed time is what we use to compare them to other runners? If we are arbitrarily speaking about the 2:15 “time barrier” in a marathon, and Meb and Mike run 2:16 and 2:18 respectively, we don’t need that time barrier to prove which runner was faster, or “best,” at the given distance of 26.2 miles. I like arbitrary time barriers as much as the next guy, but they are not necessary in comparing runners with each other.

Most people use time (over a given distance) to compare themselves to other runners, it is all relative and arbitrary—because it really doesn’t matter.
It is the king of the mountain mentality, “I am the best at (fill in the blank distance) because I ran the fastest.”
Eventually, all records (CRs, PRs, segments, distance, etc..) fall to someone else (in time.) Many people involved in running are only concerned with breaking records (most likely to secure money from sponsors.)

Time barriers aren’t arbitrary–at least in that people invest immense worth in them. Are time marks on trails extensions of those in the road marathon scene, which is clouded by BQs and pace calculators? I run pace groups for half and full marathons, and despite doing my best to remind folks that a given race is just one run on just one day, their grip on the time is tighter than my grip on the stick I’m holding while we run. The proportion of those starting/joining a group that beat the time is staggering and, sadly, ineffective at convincing them that running never syncs up to their metronome.